The Vatican Information Service is a news service, founded in the Holy See Press Office, that provides information about the Magisterium and the pastoral activities of the Holy Father and the Roman Curia...[+]

VATICAN CITY, OCT 7, 2004 (VIS) - The Russian Army Choir, orchestra and ballet corps will perform in the Vatican for Pope John Paul, paying homage to the pontiff on October 15, the eve of the 26th anniversary of his election to the papacy. The concert, featuring 150 musicians, singers and dancers, will be performed in the Paul VI Hall starting at 6 p.m.

Formed in 1928, the Russian Army orchestra, also known as the Red Army Choir and orchestra, is led by Maestro Viaceslav Korobko and will perform Russian folklore music and accompany the dancers in the first part of the 90-minute program. The choir will then perform a selection of traditional Russian songs. Pope John Paul is scheduled to speak at the end of the performance, which will be aired live on RAI, the Italian state television..../CONCERT ANNIVERSARY/RUSSIAN ARMY VIS 20041007 (140)

VATICAN CITY, OCT 7, 2004 (VIS) - Yesterday afternoon in Frankfurt, Germany Joaquin Navarro-Valls, director of the Holy See Press Office, presented John Paul II's newest book, "Memory and Identity. Conversation between Millenniums," which will be released in the Spring of 2005. It will be published by the Italian publishing house Rizzoli.

Rizzoli, which published the Pope's "Opera omnia filosofica," a volume of over 1,000 pages, as well as other texts on literary criticism written by Karol Wojtyla, owns the world rights of the book. During the Frankfurt International Book Fair, which began yesterday, there will be negotiations for its publication in other languages.

The book, according to Navarro-Valls, is a work on the philosophy of history in which the Pope considers topics such as modern democracy, liberty and human rights, the diverse concepts of nation, fatherland and the state, the more than functional relationship between nation and culture, the rights of man, the relationship between Church and state. The common theme is one that characterizes all of John Paul's philosophical and literary works: the great mystery of man.

Asked how the book came about, the director of the Holy See Press Office explained that it is a result of conversations the Polish pope had with two Polish friends, Professors Josef Tishner and Krystof Michalski, in his summer residence at Castelgandolfo in 1993. "The two intellectuals asked the Holy Father questions and he responded," said Navarro-Valls. The conversations were recorded and later transcribed. The manuscript was saved for some years until the Pope read it and decided to make it into a book after having made some corrections.

Although the book makes reference to situations and facts on other continents, said Navarro-Valls, the Pope is primarily thinking of Europe, in the dynamism of ideas that sometimes remain latent over the centuries and that explain realities that would otherwise be inexplicable. Among the questions that the Pope addresses are themes on life and modern thought. The Pope answers these questions with intellectual rigor. "We must learn," he writes, "to go to the roots."

In "Memory and Identity," says Navarro-Valls, the Pope looks for these roots and at his relationship to the terrible moments in our recent history, as well as the "innumerable positive fruits" which have been the result of Western history. The book induces the reader to think about the great problem of finding the meaning of history. From this point of view, the author makes an inestimable contribution to understanding the great historic questions of our age.

The director of the Holy See Press Office said that in the book John Paul II writes about the ideologies of evil, national socialism and communism, and he explores their roots and the regimes that resulted. In addition, he makes a theological and philosophical reflection about how the presence of evil often ends up being an invitation to do good. "Sometimes evil, in certain moments of human existence, reveals itself as useful. Useful in the measure in which it creates an occasion to do good," says the Pope in a excerpt from the book.

In presenting the volume, Navarro-Valls recalled that John Paul II has been the first Pope to have books published commercially. "Memory and Identity" is his fifth book after "Crossing the Threshold of Hope," "Gift and Mystery," "Roman Triptych" and "Arise and Let us be Going."

The volume will be published in various countries next spring.…/POPE'S BOOK/NAVARRO-VALLS VIS 20041007 (580)

VATICAN CITY, OCT 7, 2004 (VIS) - The three-day international theological-pastoral symposium that precedes the 48th International Eucharistic Congress (October 10-17) began yesterday in Guadalajara, Mexico under the co-presidency of Cardinals Juan Sandoval Iniguez, archbishop of Guadalajara, and Jozef Tomko, president of the Pontifical Committee for International Eucharistic Congresses and the Holy Father's special envoy to the events in Mexico. The symposium's focus is the Pope's Encyclical "Ecclesia de Eucharistia."

Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan, president of the Pontifical Council for the Health Pastoral and member of the committee for Eucharistic congresses, is the general moderator of the symposium.

Yesterday there were presentations on the Sense of Faith in the Eucharist on five continents by Cardinals Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson, archbishop of Cape Coast, Ghana (Africa); Bernard Law, emeritus of Boston, U.S.A. (America); Carlos Amigo Vallejo, O.F.M., archbishop of Seville, Spain (Europe); George Pell, archbishop of Sydney, Australia (Oceania), and by Archbishop Carmelo D.F. Morelos of Zamboanga, the Philippines (Asia). There was also a general overview and discussion of the papal encyclical.

Scheduled for today are talks on the Eucharist, Mystery of Faith, the Apostolicity of the Eucharist and the Church and Eucharist and Ecclesial Communion. On the program for Friday, October 8 are talks on Decorum of the Eucharistic Celebration and At the School of Mary, Eucharistic Woman. Each day of the symposium starts with a celebration of the Eucharist.COM-EIC/SYMPOSIUM:EUCHARIST/MEXICO VIS 20041007 (240)

VATICAN CITY, OCT 7, 2004 (VIS) - Today John Paul II received members of the International Theological Commission which is celebrating its annual plenary in the Vatican.

Referring to one of the commission's themes of study, the fate of children who die without receiving baptism, the Pope said that "it is not just simply an isolated theological problem" since there "are many other fundamental themes that are closely related to this one: the universal saving will of God, the unique and universal mediation of Jesus Christ, the role of the Church, the universal sacrament of salvation, the theology of the sacraments, the meaning of the doctrine on original sin."

The Holy Father recalled that the second theme of reflection is natural moral law. "It has always been the Church's belief that God gave man, with the light of reason, the capacity to be able to know the fundamental truths on life and its destiny and specifically the norms of moral behavior. Making our peers aware of this possibility is very important for dialogue with men of good will and for coexistence in all levels on a common ethical foundation."

"Christian revelation," he concluded, "does not render this search useless, on the contrary, it pushes us to search, lighting up the path with the light of Christ in whom everything is consistent."AC/…/COM-TI VIS 20041007 (230)